Vince Stingl (born as Vincze (Vincentius) Ferencz Stingl, 23 May 1796 - around 1850) was a
Hungarian-
German porcelain manufacturer, entrepreneur, industrialist who founded the
Herend Porcelain Manufactory in
Herend,
Hungary.
Life
Early years
Vince Stingl was born on 23 May 1796 in
Sopron to Leopold Stingl and Catharina Stermenzky.
Stingl's grandfather ''Casparus Stingl'' (son of ''Christoph Stingl'') moved from
Hätzenren,
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
, to
Sopron, where he got citizen rights on 19 January 1748 and worked as a
coppersmith. He had six daughters: ''Anna Maria'' (1745-1791), ''Theresia'' (1747-?), ''Maria Elisabeth'' (1750-?), ''Magdalena'' (1752-?), ''Susanna'' (1755-?), ''Catharina'' (1760-1819) and one son, ''Leopold'' (1755-) who inherited his father's job. He lived in the ''515 Würtshaus Gasse'' (today ''56 Várkerület'') with his wife, ''Catharina Stermenzky'' and their eleven children ''Mathias'' (1786-1806), ''Theresia'' (1787-?), ''Theresia'' (1789-?), ''Leopoldus'' (1791-), ''Aloysia''(1794-?), ''Maria Catharina'' (1797-?), ''Maria'' (1800-?), ''Anna Catharina'' (1802-1803), ''Nepomuk Johann'' (1804-?), ''Anna Jozefa'' (1806-?) and ''Vince''. His father was a
coppersmith.
In 1807 Vince's father died. His sons were too young to take over the father's job and they don't want to work as coppersmith, because at that time other types of bowls and dishes especially ceramics were spreading. His mother moved with the children to
Pápa,
Hungary where they started to study cardpainting. In
Pápa Vince worked also as card painter.
Stingl learnt first in
Vienna and then from 1814 in
Pápa tile production before he became the production manager of the ''Schlögel Stoneware Factory'' (''Schlögel Kőedénygyár'') in
Tata,
Komárom,
Hungary at the age of 23.
Herend Porcelain Manufactory
Then he moved to
Herend,
Veszprém,
Hungary where he bought land and founded his own
earthenware
Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ce ...
and
stoneware pottery manufacture in 1826 which became later the well-known
Herend Porcelain Manufactory.
The company's main products were at the beginning only
stoneware and
earthware
Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ...
especially chimney bricks. According to some sources he made several experiments to make lighter porcelain.
In Europe until the 17th century there were just heavy folk pottery produced and only the wealthiest could afford to have fine, thin tablewares on their tables. These porcelain products were all imported from China by ship. Around 1705 a
German alchemist
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscience, protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in Chinese alchemy, C ...
,
Johann Bottger
Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name ''Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning " Yahweh is Gracio ...
discovered a method of producing porcelain which resulted in the establishment of several new manufactures across Europe.
In 1839 because of financial difficulties he sold some of his shares to
Mór Fischer
Mór (german: Moor) is a town in Fejér County, Hungary. Among the smaller towns in the Central Transdanubia Region of Hungary, it lies between the Vértes and Bakony Hills, in the northwestern corner of Fejér County. The historic roots of ...
. After a year in 1840 Fischer bought the whole company because Stingl was in lack of capital and could not continue to operate the factory.
Stingl stayed not long there as the head of the company after the sale.
Városlődi Kerámiagyár
Around 1830 he and his relative Károly Stingl founded the ''Városlőd Ceramicsfactory'' (''Városlődi Kerámiagyár'') in the next village,
Városlőd
Városlőd (german: Waschludt) is a village in Veszprém county, Hungary. Its partner town (sister city) is Wiesthal, Germany.
History
Városlőd, or Waschludt (German), was established after the end of Ottoman rule in 1699, when German settl ...
,
Veszprém,
Hungary. Dishes, flasks, vases and flower pots were produced there with typical Hungarian decorations. Earlier he wanted to move his other factory from Herend to Városlőd, but he did not get a permission from the bishopric for that. Despite the growing business he ran out of money in 1840 so he sold the enterprise to
János György Mayer
János or Janos may refer to:
* János, male Hungarian given name, a variant of John
Places
* Janos Municipality, a municipality of Chihuahua
** Janos, Chihuahua, town in Mexico
** Janos Biosphere Reserve, a nature reserve in Chihuahua
* Janos ...
.
According to some sources he worked as a barkeeper during the last years of his life.
Personal life
He married Anna Pauer (Bauer) and lived in
Szentgál
Szentgál is a village in Veszprém county, Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the north ...
, a neighbouring village to
Herend. They were both members of the
Roman Catholic Church. They had together three sons and four daughters:
* Alexander (11 January 1830 - 11 July 1830)
* Anna (10 February 1831 - ?)
* Johannes Nepomuk (21 April 1832 -)
* Aloysia (21 September 1833 - 8 March 1835)
* Eduard Károly (19 May 1835 - 1894)
* Terézia (2 October 1836-)
* Emilia (18 July 1840 - 16 January 1842)
See also
*
Herend Porcelain Manufactory
References
Sources
* MIHALIK, Sándor : Stingl Vince családja (A Veszprém Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 2. (Veszprém, 1964))
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stingl, Vince
People from Sopron
Austro-Hungarian people
19th-century Hungarian businesspeople
Hungarian investors
Hungarian industrialists
Hungarian chief executives
Hungarian people of German descent
1796 births
1850 deaths